New Scientist


Weightlifting makes older women leaner, stronger and more mobile

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Lifting at least 50 kilograms twice a week improved older women's muscle mass, mobility and balance


Quantum computing may be facing a replication crisis

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000

A review of thousands of scientific papers about quantum computers finds that most don’t provide codes that can be tested on independent devices or that those codes don’t work


Rogue hacking AIs have changed the cybersecurity landscape

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 07:00:00 +0000

Attackers with no technical skills can now use AI models to find and exploit loopholes quickly and they can deploy them on a massive scale, raising fears that organisations without large budgets for cyber defence will be much more vulnerable


Test moderators use AI-generated writing to judge literacy standards

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:28:46 +0000

To cut the cost of key stage 2 assessments, a UK government project proposes to use scripts generated by ChatGPT instead of real children's writing as examples supplied to moderators who check that grades are awarded fairly


THC in cannabis may reduce nightmares in people with PTSD

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:02:34 +0000

A drug made up of THC, the main psychoactive component of cannabis, reduced the severity and incidence of nightmares in people with PTSD


Fishers detonate a bomb every hour on one Indonesian coral reef

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 11:00:55 +0000

The use of explosives to kill fish is widespread across the tropics, and acoustic monitoring in an Indonesian archipelago detected more than 3500 explosions in 483 days


How bad is the UK drought and how long will it continue?

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 10:18:23 +0000

Almost three-quarters of England is now in drought conditions, resulting in restrictions on water use in many areas and severe wildfires – here's how it's affecting farming, wildlife and trees


Monsoon-driven wildfires may have shaped human evolution

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000

A reconstruction of East Africa's environment 1.75 million years ago suggests wildfires spiked during wetter times, which may have influenced human evolution


Why do people ask so few questions in conversation? 

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000

We've perhaps been conditioned to not ask too many questions, in case it comes across as rude or prying. But columnist David Robson argues that asking people open-ended questions benefits our wellbeing, and doesn't have to be complicated


‘Remarkable’ discovery upends our understanding of how brains store memories

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Memories in mice persisted even after they lost the connections that we thought were needed for recall, expanding our knowledge of memory in the mammalian brain